Customers want to help themselves. They are more tech-savvy than ever, and like to use DIY methods to solve problems and answer their own questions. In a recent survey, 67% of respondents said they prefer self-service rather than talking to representatives. As many as 91% said they will use the company’s online knowledge base to meet their customer service needs.

The goal of this article is simple: we want to help you build an all-in-one knowledge base, community, and customer portal. All of this can be done through the help center.

Why you need a Help Center right now!

  • Increase customer satisfaction by providing better service and meeting the needs of customers who prefer self-service
  • Reduce costs and increase efficiency by eliminating repetitive costs so agents can focus on more strategic tasks
  • Grow your business community and build deeper connections between your company and customers

1. Planning: Start with goals

Whether you are just thinking about starting a help center or just want to improve your own functions, the first and most important step is to define what you want to achieve. Is your goal to reduce the number of support tickets submitted to employees? Or is it just to build relationships and interactions between customers and employees? These are ideas to consider, but it is important to determine the goals that suit your business and strive to reach consensus among key stakeholders.

2. Measure for improvement

It’s important to measure the performance of your help center from day one. Track things like:

  • Community analytics stats
  • Resolution times
  • Percentage of issues resolved by staff vs. those solved via the Help Center

It will help you understand whether the help center is effective and what needs to be improved.

It is also very important to track the type of content that customers are using. Knowing this will help you identify content that requires more content, such as specific topics or answers to frequently asked questions.

3. Mobile is not an “option”

It is important to provide a seamless experience so that whether your customers access your help center through a laptop, tablet or mobile phone, your customers can get the same level of service.

As pointed out by Zendesk Benchmark, the rise of mobile consumers is obvious. Everyone has heard that with the rise of smartphones and tablets, consumers are turning to mobile devices. These trends are evident in consumer preferences for interacting with brands through forums and help centers.

4. Employee participation and moderation

Self-service does not mean building a site and not participating in it. Your employees should play an active role. It shows that you are listening and caring about customer behavior and feedback.

And by employees, we don’t just mean your customer service team, we mean everyone:

  • Marketing: understand how customers interact and help build this relationship. The help center is also a good way to find and familiarize yourself with customer promoters.
  • Product and support: help answer questions and reply to comments. These departments can learn from the community together and use it to speed up the feedback cycle. They can also use this opportunity to listen to customers’ ideas and gather feedback.
  • Sales: staying active in the help center can connect your sales (the first line of business) with customers. In addition, the help center provides you with excellent insights into the ongoing sales cycle.

5. Focus on the user experience

User experience is very important. You may be doing everything right when it comes to attracting people to your website, but if you don’t provide a great experience, they won’t stay for a long time and won’t come back.

Easy navigation of the most important things is very important. For example, search is an important function that customers are looking for. Make sure it is easy to find and use. Ask yourself: Can I provide and promote the most important products for customers? Can I organize all my content effectively?

It is also important to create something that is visually appealing-to provide customers with a place where they want to spend their time. Consider adding rich media options. Many customers are beginning to expect content such as videos, webinars and pictures as well as text. Find expertise in your network or design team to get best practices, and then test, test, test! Your help center is always in development, so please check which ones are valid and which ones are not, and adjust accordingly.

One of the best ways to seek customer feedback is to ask for it: did they find what they wanted? Do they have suggestions for improvement? A short survey can help you take great steps to create an engaging user experience.

6. Put on your marketing hat!

If no one uses the help center, what use will it do? Once the technology is selected, the goals are set, and the site is established, you need to attract users there. Through this step, it is important to get your marketing team involved, or at least to start thinking like a marketer. How will you invite and attract visitors? How will you promote the website and even certain aspects of the website? And, is there a way to use the community to help support other marketing programs?

Source: Zendesk